THE 1994 CAMPAIGN: FINANCES

THE 1994 CAMPAIGN: FINANCES; Familiar Names Top List of Those Contributing to Both Cuomo and Pataki Campaigns

By JOSH BARBANEL

Published: November 7, 1994

Gov. Mario M. Cuomo and State Senator George E. Pataki are both receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars from the same contributors -- real-estate developers, financiers, law firms, state contractors and unions -- that have long dominated campaign contribution reports.

A computer study by The New York Times identified 181 contributors who gave a total of $1.2 million to both candidates for governor, including nearly one of every six dollars raised by Mr. Cuomo in the last four years.

Members of two real-estate families, the Fisher brothers and the Mack family, are among the top contributors to both candidates. The Macks gave Mr. Pataki eight contributions totaling $61,000 and are his largest contributor so far. The Macks were Mr. Cuomo's fourth largest contributor going into the final month of the campaign, with $41,000 in contributions.

Mr. Cuomo's largest individual contributor, Fedele V. Scutti, a real-estate developer and car dealer based in Rochester, gave Mr. Pataki three contributions this year, totaling a $10,000. Asked about the Pataki contributions, Mr. Scutti said he had happened to attend a political luncheon and dinner held by a business partner and a local Republican official.

"I always support the Governor," he said. "I never stop." He said he had contributed another $25,000 to Mr. Cuomo at a recent dinner.

The study showed that Mr. Pataki has raised $2.4 million from contributors who had also given to his patron, Senator Alfonse M. D'Amato. But it also found that more that half of these contributors have also given to other New York candidates. In fact, contributors to Mr. D'Amato have also given Mr. Cuomo $666,000 during his last term. In the last two terms, the total climbs to $1.6 million, or one in every five dollars raised.

The list of contributors to Mr. D'Amato, the ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, who also gave to Mr. Pataki included a number of financiers and contributors connected to financial services firms, including Carl C. Icahn, the financier, who gave Mr. D'Amato $1,800 and Mr. Pataki $25,000, and the financier Saul P. Steinberg, his wife, Gayfryd, and related interests, who gave Mr. D'Amato $17,000 and Mr. Pataki $54,750.

But many financial services companies and people who work for them have also contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to Mr. Cuomo's campaigns over the years. And most of the D'Amato-Pataki list consisted of New York-based lawyers, real-estate executives, construction contractors, oil companies and health care companies and groups -- in short, the same types of contributors who give to Mr. Cuomo.

Mr. D'Amato and Mr. Pataki were also both the beneficiaries of another source: Campaign America, a political committee controlled by Senator Bob Dole, Republican of Kansas, who received Mr. D'Amato's support when Mr. Dole ran for President. Mr. Pataki received $25,000, and Mr. D'Amato, $15,000.

Asked about the overlap in contributions, Zenia Mucha, a former aide to Senator D'Amato and Mr. Pataki's spokeswoman, said: "What it tells you is that after 12 years of Mario Cuomo, people are fed up with high taxes, high spending and soaring crime rates, and they want change."

During Mr. Cuomo's four campaigns for governor, he has raised more than $22.6 million, and the State Democratic Committee has raised $7 million more.

A review of the contributions shows that unions have been a bedrock of financial strength for Mr. Cuomo. Seven of his top 10 contributors throughout his political career have been unions; this year, unions gave $410,000 to him and $600,000 more to the Democratic State Committee. His largest contributor, the United Federation of Teachers, has given Mr. Cuomo and the Democratic State Committee $580,000 since 1982, including $280,000 to his campaign committee.

Mr. Cuomo has lost some financial support because of new regulations governing the financial services industry. His second-largest contribution throughout his political career has come from Bear Stearns, more than $230,000. But its last contribution came in 1990; since then, the municipal bond industry has been barred from making more than token contributions to candidates.

He has also lost financing because of issues fights. When he ran in 1986, Mr. Cuomo received $15,000 in contributions from the bottling industry, but since then, the relationship has soured as Mr. Cuomo has pressed for a law that would give the state the right to keep unclaimed five-cent bottle deposits. The result: the industry gave Mr. Pataki more than $87,000 in 94 separate contributions, compared with $2,000 to Mr. Cuomo, and that came from a Sacramento company, California Beer and Wine.